La Verne Chamber Of Commerce: Reinstating Masking Indoors For Everyone

Press release from La Verne Chamber of Commerce:

July 16, 2021

Community transmission of COVID-19 has rapidly increased from Moderate to Substantial, based on the trend in daily new cases of COVID-19. The Los Angeles County Health Officer Order will be modified to require masking for everyone while indoors, regardless of vaccination status, as Los Angeles County sees more than a seven-times increase in new cases since the June 15 reopening. Wearing a mask when indoors reduces the risk of both getting and transmitting the virus. This additional layer of protection can help to slow the spread and does not limit business occupancy and operations.

The L.A. County indoor masking requirements for everyone will be effective Saturday, July 17 at 11:59 p.m. Some exceptions will apply, similar to masking requirements that were in place prior to the June 15 reopening. The modified Health Officer Order will be posted online by Friday, July 16 and will become effective at 11:59 p.m. on Saturday, July 17.

On June 15, the day of the full reopening, the County saw 210 new cases and today the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health (Public Health) confirms the highest number of new COVID-19 cases since mid-March with 1,537 new cases. Today’s test positivity rate is 3.7%; on June 15, the test positivity rate was around 0.5%

Because of this rapid rise, as well as the increasing presence of the more easily transmitted Delta variant of the virus, and the millions of people potentially at risk of infection, together we must reduce our risk of infection and our risk for potentially infecting others.

Tracking the proliferation of the Delta variant is a priority because the Delta variant is more easily spread between people – more than other variants of concern. And while emerging data affirms that fully vaccinated people are well protected from severe infections with Delta variants, people with only one vaccine are not as well-protected, and there is evidence that a very small number of fully vaccinated individuals can become infected and may be able to infect others. From June 27 to July 3, the number of sequenced Delta variants was 124, 71% of all sequences collected that week. Given that slightly under 4 million residents in L.A. County are not yet vaccinated, the risk of increased spread of this variant within the County remains high.

This press release was produced by La Verne Chamber of Commerce. The views expressed here are the author’s own.